Kicking off Fall with Taste of DC

Taste of DC is one of our favorite food festivals of the year. It is the one time of year when many of our favorite local restaurants line up down America’s main street, Pennsylvania Avenue, with a gorgeous view of the Capitol. Plus, it’s October, and that means fall flavors and spices in both the beer and the food. Dressed for sweater weather, we embarked on a mission to taste all the local flavors of the season.

There are multiple admission packages but our favorite is the $29 Drink Lovers package. It includes 25 drink tickets, 1 free drink, and a cute plastic cup. This works out to be a pretty generous amount of alcohol so you’ll want to take the metro or Uber! Beer and wine tastings run $1 to $3 while full pours are $6 to $9. You can also use your drink tickets for soda and water.

Food, however, is not included in admission. Tastings run about $3 and full entrees run about $5 to $8. We tend to gravitate toward the $3 samples so we we don’t get too full and can try lots of different things. My love for crab cakes immediately drew my attention to Capitol Hill Crab Cakes. When we got to the booth, we found they were only offering crab covered fries. But they did not disappoint! Crab and sauce with an Old Bay kick turned out to be one of the best fry toppings we’ve ever had!

Later, we had a bit of a sweet tooth so we visited our friends at District Doughnut. They were serving up 3 for $5 seasonal doughnuts including brown sugar cinnamon, apple, and pumpkin. Brown sugar cinnamon is always a classic but the apple doughnut tasted like Thanksgiving dessert and stole my heart. The pumpkin doughnut was a fun twist on creme brulee with its crunchy topping and creamy pumpkin center.

This was our third year attending Taste of DC and it has become a tradition to end the afternoon with a full half smoke from Ben’s Chili Bowl. I seem to always find myself with a half smoke after a few beers whether it’s on U Street, at a Nats game, or at Taste of DC.

Taste of DC also features a number of stages with bands, DJs, and culinary demonstrations. While we enjoy the beer and wine tastings, it’s worth noting that the beer and wine gardens are a bit off to the side. Guests do walk around the entire event with drinks but if you attend with little ones, keeping them somewhat away from the alcohol shouldn’t be a problem. Be on the look out for Taste of DC next October!

I'm Kelley Smith and I love sharing tips on how to best explore Washington, DC. I love pretty much anything I can eat plus really good beer and whiskey served by story telling bartenders. I also like sassy museum guides, photogenic architecture, and colorful urban gardens.